Entertainment facilities such as stadiums, arenas and concert halls seek ways to offer unique experiences with lighting and special effects. However, the current methods of providing such effects through lighting have been limited because of the manual operation required to change colors, intensities and positions associated with overhead light fixtures. In addition, the ability to rapidly change lighting effects is limited due to the significant amount of time that it takes to start and illuminate high intensity discharge fixtures, such as high intensity discharge lamps. Further, because of the amount of light required to be emitted by many stadium lights, the lights may require a significant amount of energy and may generate a substantial amount of heat.
In addition, in certain facilities such as stadiums and sports arenas, the events that occur in the arena have very specific lighting specifications. For example, a hockey league may require relatively cool light of a color temperature of approximately 5500K, while a concert may desire a slightly warmer light of a color temperature of approximately 4000K. It is very expensive for facilities to maintain a variety of light fixtures to meet all of these specifications.
This document describes new illumination devices and control systems that are directed to solving the issues described above, and/or other problems.